About Spartacus

“I will if you will.”

Spartacus is a technology platform that enables users to create campaigns, group projects, events, and communities that activate only once enough people commit to participate. Its core premise is simple: collective action becomes far more achievable when people can see support before anyone has to act alone. The platform includes both tested campaign templates and an AI-powered campaign builder that helps users turn an initial idea into a launch-ready plan. Current use cases include student-led initiatives, community projects, volunteer drives, school advocacy efforts, and other forms of coordinated action.

In 2024, Spartacus received a ACX Grant, supporting its development.

It’s given to a small number of projects each year that demonstrate:

• strong underlying ideas
• thoughtful use of economic and behavioral research
• real potential to solve hard, real-world problems (our whole thing!)

Spartacus was selected because it applies serious thinking, from economics, game theory, and behavioral science, to a very practical challenge: helping people follow through together.

Paid Technical Fellowship for Exceptional High School Developers

Spartacus invites applications from highly accomplished high school developers for a paid fellowship supporting the continued development of its collective action platform.

Spartacus is a technology platform that enables users to create campaigns, group projects, events, and communities that activate only once enough people commit to participate. Its core premise is simple: collective action becomes far more achievable when people can see support before anyone has to act alone. The platform includes both tested campaign templates and an AI-powered campaign builder that helps users turn an initial idea into a launch-ready plan. Current use cases include student-led initiatives, community projects, volunteer drives, school advocacy efforts, and other forms of coordinated action.

Because Spartacus is built to help young people translate conviction into coordinated real-world action, the fellowship is designed for teenage builders whose technical ability, judgment, and ambition already place them well beyond the level of an ordinary high school programmer. 

This is a substantive technical role inside a live product environment, not a class project, not a passive mentorship experience, and not an introductory coding internship.

Location

Remote

Compensation

Fellows will receive a $500 stipend for participation in the fellowship.

Term

Project-based fellowship, with the possibility of continued collaboration based on performance and organizational needs

Fellowship Overview

The Developer Fellowship offers the opportunity to contribute to a live, mission-driven platform with a clear technical roadmap and real-world relevance. Fellows will work on production-facing software, contribute to feature development and refinement, and gain exposure to the standards, pace, and judgment required in serious product development.

This fellowship is intended for students who are already exceptional, not merely promising. Strong applicants will typically have gone far beyond school-based coursework, demonstrating unusual technical fluency, independent initiative, and the ability to produce work at a professional standard.

Primary Responsibilities

• Contribute production-quality code to Spartacus’s live web platform
• Work effectively within an existing codebase and established product architecture
• Support feature development, refinement, debugging, and deployment
• Strengthen core platform functionality and improve user-facing flows
• Collaborate on implementation priorities, technical tradeoffs, and execution strategy
• Communicate clearly and professionally about progress, blockers, and next steps
• Maintain a high standard of reliability, discretion, responsiveness, and technical judgment

Core Technical Qualifications

Applicants should already possess strong working proficiency in modern web development and be capable of contributing meaningfully in a real software environment.

• Required qualifications include:
• Strong proficiency in TypeScript and modern JavaScript development
• Experience building with React and Next.js
• Experience working with databases, ideally Supabase and/or PostgreSQL
• Ability to work inside an existing codebase rather than only in isolated personal projects
• Evidence of having built and deployed meaningful technical projects
• Comfort navigating ambiguity, solving problems independently, and shipping polished work
• Clear written communication and professional maturity
• Strong follow-through, attention to detail, and responsiveness

Preferred Technical Qualifications

Especially competitive applicants may also offer experience with:

• Vercel deployment workflows
• Authentication systems such as Auth0 or comparable tools
• Stripe or other payment integrations
• Tailwind CSS
• Product analytics or instrumentation tools
• Testing frameworks and debugging workflows
• Full-stack application architecture
• Version control practices appropriate for collaborative software development
• AI-assisted development tools used intelligently and efficiently in real engineering workflows

Candidate Profile

This fellowship is best suited to students who have already demonstrated unusual initiative and seriousness. Strong applicants may have built ambitious independent projects, launched real products, contributed to collaborative technical work, participated in advanced open-source or startup environments, or taught themselves a modern stack at a level substantially beyond what is typically available in school.

The strongest candidates will combine technical skill with the rarer qualities that distinguish future builders and founders: intellectual curiosity, speed without sloppiness, mature judgment, accountability, and the ability to execute at a high level without constant supervision.

What Makes the Fellowship Distinctive

This fellowship offers more than enrichment. It offers technical work of genuine substance within a product whose mission is both intellectually serious and socially relevant. Fellows will gain:

• Professional-caliber experience on a live platform
• Exposure to real engineering and product workflows
• The opportunity to contribute to technology designed to help people organize collective action more effectively
• A high-signal technical credential grounded in actual work, not simulation
• A stronger foundation for future academic, entrepreneurial, and technical opportunities

Application Materials

Applicants should submit:

• A resume or concise summary of technical experience
• Links to GitHub, portfolio projects, shipped products, or other relevant code samples
• A short statement of interest explaining why the fellowship is compelling and why they are a strong fit
• Any additional material that helps demonstrate technical ability, initiative, or unusually strong execution

Please send to: jordan@spartacus.app